Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Farm to Fork: A mind moving mantra

Apple blossoms and artichokes this morning on the farm.

"Farm to Fork" rolls off tongues these days like the rain off the back off the Mallards swimming across the way out here. Like the holy man humming "OHMMMMM" for hours at a time, "Farm to Fork" presents us with a tidy concept which in and of itself offers a peak into why Karl Jung hypothesized the collective unconscious. Hop on the internet and you will find "farmtofork.com" or "farmtoforkevents.com" or countless others. The term stretches from San Francisco to New York. The curiosity is -- and the link to Jung's collective unconscious -- that it is a national concept whose very premise is to move away from nationally distributed food to local, sustainable, organic food from local small farms. While this would seem to be Sacramento's calling, the entire country is drawing off this idea that is mysteriously boiling up in our collective unconscious, all at the same time with no discernible national organization to support it. It's like a protest against our food system as it is. So don't be just a casual observer, it is way more than just another marketing campaign. Think about it. Repeat it over and over again. Think about what it means: Less fuel being used to transport farm goods, thereby helping to clean up our air. More people employed per acre harvested, lowering unemployment. Better shepherding of our land, leaving our offspring in better shape once we have strutted and fretted off the stage. Fresher, tastier and more diverse food. Preservation of precious open-pollinated and heirloom varieties and species, which are owned by the public instead of giant corporations hellbent on taking over the plant and animal kingdoms with corporate-owned patents. How many packages have you seen from giant corporations that have what looks like a small farm on it? What great marketing, to be able to produce and package their gene-spliced, chemically-saturated, screw the flavor mass-produced products and put a picture of a small farmer on their package. I think they should be forced to put tears on his or her cheeks. I know it makes me cry to think about it.